Barnegat's Relay for Life Raised $74,000

The final numbers are in from Barnegat High School’s Relay for Life, the all-night awareness event that capped months of fundraising in the community for the American Cancer Society.

About 800 people attended this year’s event on May 14, but the number is still an educated guess, since not everybody registered for the event online, says Lindsey Miller, special events manager for the American Cancer Society’s Jersey Shore Region.

According to Miller, Barnegat’s Relay for Life alone raised $74,000 for the ACS. However, teams are still in the process of raising money, and may do so until the end of the ACS’s fiscal year, Aug. 31.

The final total is sure to go up over the course of the summer, she said.

And according to John Germano, Barnegat High School’s athletic director and co-chair of the event, the school was abuzz with positive energy in the days following the Relay for Life.

“The students loved it,” he said. “They have a new appreciation for how rewarding it is to be a part of this. We fully plan on running it again.”

In a couple of weeks, Germano will oversee a closing committee, where plans for next year will be discussed.

Germano said that with the district’s full support, he plans to make next year’s Relay for Life even bigger, by way of more exposure through the media.

He thinks that a meet and greet will be planned as well to put committee members in the spotlight to show the community the student's enthusiasm in bringing this event to Barnegat.

Just as they did this year, the students will host a kickoff party in January, and will hold the Relay for Life in May.